Oosterdam azipod problem - a show stopper?

[Gigabit]

My wife, daugher, son-in-law and I are planning a March cruise. We like the itinerary of the HAL Mexican Riviera and, in general, the reviews on the Oosterdam. However, on the azipod issue the reviews seem mixed, ranging from the minor inconvenience of reduced times in ports-of-call to one who attempted unsuccessfully to get a refund upon learning of the azipod problem. Can any recent Oosterdam cruisers weigh-in on this issue with advice for us. Should we consider this problem a show-stopper? One concern I do have is the loss of redundancy. If the one good drive should go down, you're adrift at sea. Are there othe less obvious downsides?

Thanks for any advice from your personal experiences.

 

Gigabit

[Fblack]

HAL is now addressing the problem of shortened port time by giving on board credit.

 

I have been on 18 MR cruises. I see no reason why Puerto Valarta is going to be a problem. Most people are back on the ship by 5 or 6 PM anyway. Relatively few people seem to take advantage of a late stop here. So leaving a few hours early is no big deal.

 

I have been going to Cabo for years on cruises. Up until the higher speed ships entered service, we on;ly spent a few hours there. Usually from 8AM to 2PM or so. Cabo is nice, but very small, not great for shopping and you can pretty much do what you want in 4 or 5 hours.

 

Bottom line...enjoy the cruise and don't worry about it.

[nabby]

The only downside to the azipod problem was the reduced port times. In Cabo, we arrived at 10:00 am (rather than 8:00 am). In Mazatlan, the port times were not affected. In Puerto Vallarta, we arrived on schedule but had to leave at 7:00 pm, not the scheduled 10:00 pm. So, you lose about 2 hours in Cabo, and about 3 hours in PV. The ship gives every passenger an onboard credit of $25. I know that some passengers have complained about vibration, but I am not the best person to comment since I go boating all the time and frankly have never been on a boat WITHOUT some vibration. By the way, the port azipod is not dead, it is just working at reduced power. The ship's crew did not seem concerned about having the remaining pod fail; they are preventing that from happening by reducing the ship's speed (leading to the shortened port times).

[dorisdoris1]

just got back from this cruise.got to all the ports quite early,only problem for me was the juddering,which to be fair you did get used to,apart from at dinner,which was not really pleasant.

[PathfinderEss]

just got back from this cruise.got to all the ports quite early,only problem for me was the juddering,which to be fair you did get used to,apart from at dinner,which was not really pleasant.

Ok, I feel I need to jump in on this problem your speaking about with the juddering at dinner. We were on the Oosterdam when she was about 2 months old, we did her first Caribbean schedule. We had the same problem on her that your talking about at dinner and all her azipods were working just fine back then. Realize, when they went to these Vista type ships, putting cabins on the backside which meant they had to drop the dinning room down basically right over those azipods. We change tables several time trying to get away from the vibration, the only thing that helped was to go to the upper dinning room. Any of you traveling on the Vista type ships when your at dinner put your hands on the underside of the table, and you will feel rubber bushing underneath to keep the table from vibrating so much. We have not traveled on the Zuiderdam but at that time heard she was the same way. We then traveled on the Westerdam the following year and they seemed to have solve most of that problem. Have not traveled on the Noordam as of yet, so don't know if she is OK. My suggestion to anyone traveling on the Oosterdam try to get into the upper dinning room.

[San Diego Cruzer]

We were on the Oosterdam in mid January and we very concerned about the whole azipod issue before our cruise. In reflection, it was not that big of a deal, other than the aforementioned shortened port times - which was a bummer for us because we love PV so much and would have (and had planned on) having a sunset dinner in PV. The time in Cabo was o.k. - we actually got in earlier than the revised schedule. The time in Mazatlan was uneffected.

 

So overall - with consideration of the onboard credit HAL gives you - I think it was fine and would not hesitate to recommend it to you.

[CPeters40]

My wife, daugher, son-in-law and I are planning a March cruise. We like the itinerary of the HAL Mexican Riviera and, in general, the reviews on the Oosterdam. However, on the azipod issue the reviews seem mixed, ranging from the minor inconvenience of reduced times in ports-of-call to one who attempted unsuccessfully to get a refund upon learning of the azipod problem. Can any recent Oosterdam cruisers weigh-in on this issue with advice for us. Should we consider this problem a show-stopper? One concern I do have is the loss of redundancy. If the one good drive should go down, you're adrift at sea. Are there othe less obvious downsides?

Thanks for any advice from your personal experiences.

 

Gigabit

 

I was just on the Oosterdam from Jan 6 to 13th, and this azipod was definitely NOT a "showstopper". We had the best time that week, met a bunch of really interesting and fun people, (loved meeting everyone from the CC group) had fun doing all the various activities, etc. Just go and have a super time! Wish I were back doing the Oosterdam in March!

Chris (Iowa)

PS - I didn't even notice any "vibration" or such, having our cabin smack in the middle. It was a great week--too short!

 

 

April, 2007 Sea Diamond - Greek Isles

[cruznon]

There have been so many great reports recently from the Oosterdam. I can hardly wait to board. It's such a beautiful ship. Don't think the azipod problem is a showstopper.

[Copper10-8]

There have been so many great reports recently from the Oosterdam. I can hardly wait to board. It's such a beautiful ship. Don't think the azipod problem is a showstopper.

It most definitely is not!! Have a great time!